Hebrew translations of free resources
“Long goodbye” materials ~ teach & practice goodbyes at end-of-school year, other social farewell occasions
Greetings, saying goodbye and social skills training for children with autism
Teachers and therapists work hard to raise young people’s awareness of how and when to begin and end conversations. My free Train Conversation Kits can be helpful to teach these skills.
There is a different and more complicated set of conversation skills involved in saying a “long goodbye,” when one is taking leave of another person they might not see for a long time – or ever. In my own experience, young people with ASD’s find “long goodbyes” stressful and confusing, and they are usually very open to advice and role play practice. I have often used this “long goodbye” rubric on occasions when I am ending therapy with a child or helping groups of young people say farewell to one another following a summer program.
This 5-page pdf download includes:
*A rubric sheet for conventional Short Goodbyes
*A sheet with a brief description of Long Goodbyes with examples of when they occur
*A summary of the 4 steps involved in carrying out a Long Goodbye
*A practice fill-in sheet for a child to write down a Long Goodbye
*An explanation page for step 2 in Long Goodbyes (the most difficult step) in which one says, “I’ll always remember…”
Paper fortune teller for conversation practice of small-talk topics – Weather & Weekends
Social skills conversation game to help children with autism practice small talk
For many young people on the autism spectrum, doing small talk does not come naturally, and in fact it can be really difficult. Many benefit from mastering certain typical, common ground topics. Since learning these skills is very hard work, we need to keep it as enjoyable as possible.
For some time, in my own work, I have been helping children practice conversation by introducing typical topics of weekends and weather, among others. In March 2021, Everyday Speech Videos featured a training video for children on the spectrum on this topic.
I felt inspired to create a paper fortune teller on this theme.
Your comments on these resources are most welcome, and often helpful. Click HERE to send an email.
Paper fortune teller for practicing “How are you?” questions
This same resource, translated into German
[This is page 10 of the English and French versions of my book, The Conversation Train.]
Young people with autism and “How are you?” questions
When people with ASD are asked open-ended questions like “How are you doing?”, “What’s up?” or “How’s it going?”, they often can’t figure out just what it is the other person wants to know. Also, individuals with autism might be inexperienced at employing various quick, formulaic replies like “Fine, thanks” or “I’m doing okay. You?”
When people with autism are expected to ask other people “How are you?” or “How’s it going?”, many just avoid saying it altogether. There are several reasons for this. First, the unfolding of a conversation containing “How are you?” can be very unpredictable in length and in content. Asking a person how they are doing often elicits a lot of information that someone with ASD may feel unprepared to take in. Second, a person on the autism spectrum might not grasp the imperative of reciprocity in conversation, so when someone asks them “How are you?” they don’t end up asking the same thing in reply.
In my own work, I have seen how many young people on the autism spectrum can get much better at this set of skills with instruction and practice.
Paper fortune tellers work well for two children, or an adult and the child, to practice specific conversation skills. I have used my own, custom-designed ones for many years in my work. There are many other conversation-based paper fortune tellers on the website to practice other elements of social communication. I also show how to fold them.
Don’t miss these other free worksheets, games, and teaching / therapy resources for children on the autism spectrum:
Free social skills games & activities, emotional regulation skills for kids with ASD
Free social skills games & activities, communication / conversation skills for kids with ASD
Free social skills games & activities, social interaction skills for kids with ASD
Your comments on these resources are most welcome, and often helpful. Click HERE to send an email.
“How was your day?” sheets. Help for answering end-of-day questions for kids with ASD
Many children, especially children with autism spectrum disorders, have difficulty answering these questions from their parents at the end of the day. Children might be tired or distracted. They might not grasp the importance of exchanging information about the school day. They may have an impaired sense of what the parent knows or does not know.
I designed these sheets so that:
*Parents can use them as written prompts
*Mental health therapists and speech therapists working with children with autism can use them for guidance and practice for this important aspect of the parent-child relationship.
This first sheet offers examples, in thematic categories, of useful statements and phrases to use when answering “How was your day” kinds of questions.
This second page offers a variety of helpful suggestions.
The third sheet offers examples of how to use the phrase prompts from page 1.
In my own work with the parents of children on the spectrum, I have gotten a lot of good feedback about the design and utility of these conversation prompts. I hope that you also find them useful.
Joel Shaul, LCSW
For more materials to facilitate conversation between the child and family members, here is another set of free materials: Talk to Family Picture Sheets.
For more practice on asking and responding to “How are you?” questions, here is a cool and fun paper fortune teller on that topic.
Your comments on these resources are most welcome, and often helpful. Click HERE to send an email.
Speech Professionals
To view the remainder of the free resources on social communication, click HERE.
To view the remainder of the free resources on interaction, click HERE.
To view the remainder of the free resources concerning emotions, click HERE.
To learn about workshops, professional training and webinars offered by Joel Shaul, click HERE.
Customizable behavior meters ~ to increase awareness of target behaviors
German translation of this resource
In my own work with children on the spectrum, I frequently almost always found that merely talking about a problem wasn’t good enough alone. Kids get tired of being scrutinized and criticized. Kids with autism in particular can get fidgety and impatient during sessions.
Many years ago, I found other therapists employing handmade cardboard meters they had put together to help children focus on issues such as voice volume. After much experimentation, I found that these meters have many applications on a wide variety of problems that are the focus of therapy interventions.
This kit enables you to use my template to quickly create nice-looking meters for whatever problem area you are working on. The advantage of putting the meter on a computer screen is that you and the child can easily look at the screen together and collaborate on its design.
Most kids also really like to take part in cutting it out and laminating it. This can afford them a sense of agency in the therapeutic process.
The pictures below provide some examples of what the behavior meters look like and some tips on creating them and using them.
Elsewhere on my website, you will find links to some meters that are pre-made on topics such as voice volume and fantasy enthrallment.
There are other free, downloadable “meters” on the website.
Your comments on these resources are most welcome, and often helpful. Click HERE to send an email.
Draw a cookie with a partner – social skills activity to promote flexibility
Autistic children are very often uniquely creative when they draw or create other kinds of art. But cooperating with others in creative endeavors can make them confused and unless they have adequate adult guidance and clear cooperation rules to follow.
This printable activity sets up a one-page drawing and writing activity that two children are assigned to complete jointly. Each pair, in either a social skills group or a classroom setting, is instructed to invent, name, describe and jointly draw a cookie together. It’s not easy, but it can be very fun. On the many occasions I have used it, it usually works out well.
It’s essential to go over the cooperation rules (shown below) carefully ahead of time. Practice aloud the specific phrases of “cooperation language.”
I have found I need to be vigilant to help mediate disagreements, and to help the participants to actually work together instead of each one just drawing “my half of the cookie.”
To find a similar worksheet on jointly drawing a pizza instead of a cookie, click here.
More collaborative drawing projects for children on the spectrum –
There are lots more great ways to help pairs and groups of kids with ASD to practice cooperation and creating things together. I have a whole section on this for you to explore: See “Collaborative drawing tasks for social learning” for information and ideas, like the one shown above.
Your comments on these resources are most welcome, and often helpful. Click HERE to send an email.
Draw a pizza with a partner worksheet – social skills activity to promote flexibility & compromise
in Spanish: Dibuja una pizza con un compañero – hoja de trabajo para fomentar la flexibilidad y la cooperación
in Hebrew: 2-Person Pizza Drawing Worksheet
The autistic children I have worked with are usually not lacking in creative ideas and artistic creativity. But when it comes to collaborating with others on a creative endeavor, they can get confused and frustrated without adult guidance and clear cooperation rules to follow.
This printable activity sets up a one-page drawing and writing activity that two kids on the spectrum have to complete jointly. Each group of two children, in either a social skills group or a classroom setting, are instructed to invent, name, describe and jointly draw a pizza together. It’s hard, but fun, and in my own work children usually like it.
It’s important to go over these cooperation rules carefully ahead of time and to practice aloud the specific “cooperation language.”
I have used this cooperative drawing activity with children age 8 right up to young adult.
In my experience, some kids need very close supervision in completion of this project, as they may highly value their own ideas and find it jarring and offensive to have someone else draw on “my pizza.”
This activity is frequently downloaded from my website.
More collaborative drawing tasks for children on the spectrum – see below.
There are lots more great ways to help pairs and groups of kids with ASD to practice cooperation and creating things together. I have a whole section on this for you to explore: See “Collaborative drawing tasks for social learning” for information and ideas, like the one shown above.
How to fold the paper fortune tellers
Over the years, I have had a few young clients that can fold these as well as me, but nearly all children will need you to fold the paper fortune tellers ahead of time!
Your comments on these resources are most welcome, and often helpful. Click HERE to send an email.